As described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-197920, for example, a method known in the prior art of manufacturing a briefs type body fluid absorbing article, including the steps of: transferring a back sheet having waist gathers in the longitudinal direction while folding the back sheet downward at a predetermined interval, supplying a waist side elastic body in the longitudinal direction on the upper surface of the back sheet being transferred, supplying a holding non-woven fabric in the longitudinal direction on the upper surface thereof, and bonding the waist side elastic body and the holding non-woven fabric on the back sheet except for the downward folded portions; cutting off the waist side elastic body and the holding non-woven fabric integrated with the back sheet along the top edge of each downward folded portion of the back sheet, and then unfolding the downward folded portions to make the back sheet back into a sheet form, thereby forming a back sheet having the waist side elastic bodies at a predetermined interval; bonding a body fluid absorbent to areas of the back sheet after the previous step where the waist side elastic body does not exist; cutting out leg hole openings in the back sheet after the previous step, and then dividing the back sheet by cutting it off along the center line of the leg hole opening into individual intermediate products; and folding in two each intermediate product with the waist side elastic body and the body fluid absorbent being located inside, and bonding together the waist side sections.
The method of manufacturing a body fluid absorbing article described in the above-identified publication provides the following advantage: the waist side elastic body is provided in the left-right direction except for the widthwise center area and the longitudinal center area of the body fluid absorbent, thereby reducing the area on which the waist side elastic body is provided and thus reducing the material cost; the waist side elastic body is supplied in the direction in which the back sheet is transferred, thereby increasing the speed of the production line; and it is possible to obtain a body fluid absorbing article that can be easily worn by stretching the waist side elastic body, and that provides an improved fit to the body without giving a feeling of excessive pressure to the wearer.
However, in the case where the operation of transferring a back sheet having waist gathers in the longitudinal direction while folding the back sheet downward at a predetermined interval and supplying a waist side elastic body and a holding non-woven fabric on the upper surface of the back sheet, the operation of bonding the waist side elastic body and the holding non-woven fabric on the back sheet except for the downward folded portions, and the operation of cutting off the waist side elastic body and the holding non-woven fabric integrated with the back sheet along the top edge of each downward folded portion of the back sheet, are performed, the operation speed needs to be reduced since these operations are difficult to perform, and it is necessary to provide a folding mechanism for folding the back sheet downward, thereby complicating the structure of the manufacturing apparatus.
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has an object to realize a high-speed manufacture of disposable pants having a fit gather laminate in which an elastic member is provided between a pair of upper and lower non-woven fabric sheets, without complicating the structure of the manufacturing apparatus.